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Sunday, 15 June 2014

Review: Delirium (Delirium #1) by Lauren Oliver

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe.
I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard
to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so
far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old
days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It
kills you both when you have it and when you don't.

Review:

The concept of love being a disease drew me in straight
away, and with the hundreds of amazing reviews it was a no brainer whether I
wanted to read it. I don’t know why I put off reading it for so long, but I
think I was simply intimidated by a 400 page love story.

Anyway, now that I finally have I’ll admit that this book
started off rather slow and it wasn’t because of the world building, which was
actually done fluidly (and the excerpts at the beginning of each chapter from
fictional documents about the dystopian world such as The Book of SHHH which is kind of like their bible, kept me
interested though it did make me want more of the dystopia side of it) but I
think that because it is a dystopian romance novel it didn’t kick-start until
the romance did.

Lauren Oliver’s writing is a masterpiece, it’s so fluent and
beautiful that I wouldn’t be surprised if she could turn a sentence about a dog
pooping into something tear-jerking. She writes like a poet, and deserves all
the positive feed-back she’s getting from her books. I’m not sure whether it
was a good or a bad thing but I preferred her writing to her actual characters,
because while her writing was rich with beautiful depth and imagery, her two
main characters Lena and Alex were a little flat. I am sure that this will
change as the series continues and Lena has already developed so much after one
book. She was originally just a simple girl who was a sucker to the rules
because she didn’t know any differently, but she is stronger now and throughout
her journey you relate to her impeccably. That is why my heart-breaked just as hers did at the end of the book. Now,
now, don’t jump to conclusions.

I would recommend this book to readers who like love stories
over people who like dystopias because I feel as if it fell short in this
aspect, but I hope Lauren Oliver will pick this up in book 2 of the Delirium
series: Pandemonium. Which I will definitely
be reading, even if it’s only to find out the result of the cliff-hanger which
has left my heart racing.

Favourite Quotes:

“Then he does the
absolutely, positively unthinkable.

He
winks at me.”

“Snapshots, moments, mere seconds: as
fragile and beautiful and hopeless as a single butterfly, flapping on against a
gathering wind.”

“I know that life isn't life if you just
float through it. I know that the whole point - the only point - is to find the
things that matter and hold onto them and fight for them and refuse to let them
go.”

“You may think the past has something to tell
you. You may think that you should listen, should strain to make out its
whispers, should bend over backward, stoop down low to hear its voice breathed
up from the ground, from the dead places. You may think there’s something in it
for you, something to understand or make sense of.But I know the truth: I know from the nights of
Coldness. I know the past will drag you backward and down, have you snatching
at whispers of wind and the gibberish of trees rubbing together, trying to
decipher some code, trying to piece together what was broken. It’s hopeless.
The past is nothing but a weight. It will build inside of you like a stone.Take it from me: If you hear the past speaking
to you, feel it tugging at your back and running its fingers up your spine, the
best thing to do—the only thing—is run.”

Disclaimer

I can guarantee that all of my reviews are honest, which includes the reviews I have written based on review copies I have received which are clearly specified. The fact that they are review copies has no impact on my thoughts and opinions stated in the review. I do not receive any form of monetary compensation for my reviews from authors/publishers.